Kent Haruf
{{short description|American novelist (1943-2014)}}
{{Infobox writer
|name=Kent Haruf
|birth_date={{birth date|1943|2|24}}
|birth_place=Pueblo, Colorado, U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|2014|11|30|1943|2|24}}
|death_place=Salida, Colorado, U.S.
|occupation=Novelist
|education=Nebraska Wesleyan University (BA)
Iowa Writers' Workshop (MFA)
|genre=Fiction
|notableworks=The Tie That Binds;
Plainsong
}}
Alan Kent Haruf (February 24, 1943 – November 30, 2014) was an American novelist.
Life
Haruf was born in Pueblo, Colorado, the son of a Methodist minister. In 1965 he graduated with a BA from Nebraska Wesleyan University, where he would later teach, and earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1973.
Before becoming a writer, Haruf worked in a variety of places, including a chicken farm in Colorado, a construction site in Wyoming, a rehabilitation hospital in Denver, a hospital in Phoenix, a presidential library in Iowa, an alternative high school in Wisconsin, and colleges in Nebraska and Illinois. He also taught English with the Peace Corps in Turkey. He lived with his wife, Cathy, in Salida, Colorado, until his death in 2014. He had three daughters from his first marriage with Ginger Koon.
All{{cite web|url=https://www.randomhouseacademic.com/book?isbn=9781101875896|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160704080822/https://www.randomhouseacademic.com/book?isbn=9781101875896|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 4, 2016|title=Our Souls at Night|work=Random House Academic|access-date=26 June 2015}} of Haruf's novels take place in the fictional town of Holt, in eastern Colorado. Holt is based on Yuma, Colorado, one of Haruf's residences in the early 1980s. His first novel, The Tie That Binds (1984), received a Whiting Award and a special PEN/Hemingway Award citation. Where You Once Belonged followed in 1990. A number of his short stories have appeared in literary magazines.
Plainsong was published in 1999 and became a U.S. bestseller. Verlyn Klinkenborg called it "a novel so foursquare, so delicate and lovely, that it has the power to exalt the reader."[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/03/books/the-sheltering-sky.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm "The Sheltering Sky" New York Times review, October 10, 1999] Plainsong won the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Award and the Maria Thomas Award in Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction.
Eventide, a sequel to Plainsong, was published in 2004. Library Journal described the writing as "honest storytelling that is compelling and rings true." Jonathan Miles saw it as a "repeat performance" and "too goodhearted."[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/books/review/23MILESL.html?ex=1400644800&en=dd249cf0a28b6744&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND "Eventide: Where the Dust Motes Glow" New York Times review, May 23, 2004][http://www.identitytheory.com/kent-haruf/ Identitytheory.com] On this, Haruf said: "...the review in the Sunday New York Times by Jonathan Miles—it was a smart-ass review. A quintessential hip cynical eastern view of things. The following Tuesday Kakutani wrote her review, which for her, was a rave. A very positive review. So I figured her review cancelled his out." A third novel in the series, Benediction, was published in 2014.
In the summer of 2014 Haruf finished his last novel, Our Souls at Night, which was published posthumously in 2015. He completed it just before his death. The novel was subsequently adapted in 2017 into a film by the same name, directed by Ritesh Batra and starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.
On November 30, 2014, Haruf died at his home in Salida, Colorado, at the age of 71, from interstitial lung disease.{{cite news
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/books/kent-haruf-sublime-novelist-of-small-town-life-dies-at-71.html| title = Kent Haruf, Acclaimed Novelist of Small-Town Life, Is Dead at 71| author = Yardley, William| date = December 2, 2014| access-date = 2017-04-09| newspaper = The New York Times}}The Washington Post. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/11/30/novelist-kent-haruf/ "Novelist Kent Haruf" retrieved November 30, 2014].{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/publisher-says-novelist-kent-haruf-dies-age-71-041944075.html|title=Publisher says novelist Kent Haruf dies at age 71|date=1 December 2014|work=Yahoo News|access-date=26 June 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.denverpost.com/theater/ci_27048057/kent-haruf-1943-2014-an-astute-observer-rural?source=infinite|title=Kent Haruf, 1943–2014: An astute observer of rural life in the West|work=denverpost.com|date=December 2014 |access-date=26 June 2015}}
Recognition
{{expand list|date=February 2014}}
Works
Novels
- The Tie That Binds (1984)
- Where You Once Belonged (1990)
- Plainsong (1999)
- Eventide (2004)
- Benediction (2013); adapted for the stage in February 2015.
{{cite web |title=Benediction: World Premiere |url=http://www.denvercenter.org/shows/specific-series/Get?Id=6f6ed777-cdec-68a4-921b-ff0e004d5814 |access-date=23 February 2015 |date=February 2014 |quote=Benediction World Premiere. By Eric Schmiedl. Based on the novel by Kent Haruf, Jan 30 – Mar 1, 2015 }}
- Our Souls at Night (2015);{{cite web|url=http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/reviews/fine-last-novel-by-kent-haruf/article_b48d5431-f15e-50b4-934b-1a3357898427.html|title=Fine last novel by Kent Haruf|author=Lee Enterprises|work=stltoday.com|date=13 June 2015 |access-date=26 June 2015}} adapted into a 2017 Netflix movie
Essays
- "The Making of a Writer". Granta Magazine, issue 129: "Fate". London: Granta, 2014.
Other
- West of Last Chance, with photographer Peter Brown (2008)
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060422101943/http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?z=y&cid=1020577 Meet the Writers: Kent Haruf Barnes and Noble profile and interview]
- [http://cozine.com/2013-april/q-a-with-colorado-author-kent-haruf/ Q & A with Kent Haruf ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426235941/http://cozine.com/2013-april/q-a-with-colorado-author-kent-haruf/ |date=2014-04-26 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060110005951/http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/harucrit.htm What the Critics Say About Kent Haruf]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061210024020/http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatispc.notable.artsandlit Notable Former Volunteers / Arts and Literature] – Peace Corps official site
- [http://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/kent-haruf#/ Profile at The Whiting Foundation]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haruf, Kent}}
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American male novelists
Category:Novelists from Colorado
Category:Nebraska Wesleyan University alumni
Category:People from Pueblo, Colorado
Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
Category:University of Iowa alumni
Category:Deaths from lung disease
Category:Nebraska Wesleyan University faculty
Category:People from Salida, Colorado